Street Scenes

Old Corner Bookstore, Springfield Mass

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Springfield’s Old Corner Bookstore at the corner of Main and State Streets, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

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The scene in 2023:

Not to be confused with the more famous Old Corner Bookstore in Boston,this was never a gathering place for prominent 19th century authors, but the building did play a significant role in American literary history.  The building was built in 1834, and a year later George and Charles Merriam opened up a bookstore.  At first, they printed law books, Bibles, and other books, but they gained prominence after 1843, when they purchased the rights to Noah Webster’s dictionary.  By the time the first photo was taken, the company had moved directly across Main Street.  Today, the company is still in business, as Merriam-Webster, and their headquarters are still in Springfield, on Federal Street.

As for the building itself, it continued to be used as a bookstore and for publishing, even after the Merriams moved.  Around 1871, James L. Whitney and W. F. Adams took over the bookstore, and sold everything from blank stationery to school textbooks.  In 1884, King’s Hanbook of Springfield gave the business a glowing review, declaring that “The success of this house is largely due to the straightforward and honorable policy by which their affairs ever have been and are now conducted.”  The statement was likely made in all sincerity, too, since King’s Handbook of Springfield was published by one of their Springfield competitors, publisher James D. Gill.

Irrespective of their “straightforward and honorable” nature, however, the bookstore went out of business in 1894, and the building became home to the Old Corner Wall Paper Company.  The old building was demolished sometime between then and 1927, when the Shean Block seen in the present day photo was built.  The only building that can be seen in both photos is the Hampden County Courthouse; the top of the tower can be seen in the distance in the left center, between the chimneys in the 1892 photo and behind the Court Square Hotel today.

Old Church and Courthouse, Northampton, Mass

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Looking up Main Street from Pleasant Street in Northampton, toward the old church and courthouse in 1864. Photo from Reminiscences of Old Northampton (1902).

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The location in 2018:

The 1864 photo is one of the oldest existing photographs of downtown Northampton, and none of the buildings from that scene survive today, 151 years later.  To the left in the 1864 photo is the old church, which was built in 1812.  It was Northampton’s fourth meeting house, and it replaced the 1737 building that had been built during the pastorate of Jonathan Edwards.  It was from here that the influential pastor and theologian helped to spark the Great Awakening revival that spread across the American colonies and in Europe, but by the turn of the century the town was in need of a new building.  The 1812 church was designed by Northampton architect Isaac Damon, who just a few years later would design Old First Church in Springfield, 15 miles to the south.  However, while Old First Church survives to this day, the Northampton church seen in the 1864 photo burned in 1876, and was replaced two years later by the current brownstone church.

On the far right of the 1864 photo is the old Hampshire County Courthouse.  I don’t know when it was built, but it is virtually identical to the 1821 Hampden County Courthouse, seen on the far left of the 1882 photo in this post.  Because of its similar appearance, the Hampshire County Courthouse was probably built around the same time, shortly after some major changes to the county’s borders.  Originally, Hampshire County included all of Western Massachusetts, but it was steadily broken up into multiple counties, beginning in 1761 when Berkshire County was established to the west.  Then in 1811, Franklin County was created in the northern part of the Connecticut River Valley with Greenfield as the county seat, and a year later Hampden County split off to the south, with Springfield as the county seat.  I don’t know what happened to the old courthouse seen here, but it was gone by 1886, when the present-day Hampshire County Courthouse opened on roughly the same spot at the corner of Main and King Streets.

In between the two prominent buildings in the 1864 scene is a relatively small commercial block, the Whitney Building.  The photograph was actually commissioned by George D. Eames, the owner of the building, and was probably intended to advertise the building’s prominent location in town.  Part of the building housed the offices of the Hampshire Gazette, and the newspaper was published in the basement.  This is evidently the reason for the large sign on the building that reads “Caloric Printing Establishment.”  The Whitney Building was demolished in 1876, and a bank building was put in its place.  Today, the 1916 Northampton Institute for Savings building occupies the site where the Whitney Building once stood.

Main Street, Wilbraham Mass

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Looking north on Main Street from Faculty Street in Wilbraham, around 1900. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

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Main Street in 2015:

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These photos show Main Street where it passes through the Wilbraham & Monson Academy.  The houses on the left-hand side of the road can also be seen in the photos in this post; those photos were taken from the field on the far right in this view.  At the time that the first photo was taken, the academy was called Wesleyan Academy; it was later called Wilbraham Academy, and in 1971 it merged with Monson Academy, giving the school its current name.  Today, other than having a paved road and fewer trees, not much has changed in this scene, and the area is part of the Academy Historic District, a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Gurney’s Store, Wilbraham Mass (2)

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Another view of Gurney’s Store, at the corner of Main and Springfield Streets in Wilbraham, around 1904. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

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The scene in 2015:

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This scene shows the general store at the corner of Springfield and Main Streets as it appeared when Frank A. Gurney ran the store.  As mentioned in this post, the store was owned by several different people around the turn of the last century, with Gurney bring the one most commonly associated with the building.  His delivery wagon can be seen in this post, and his primary business was selling goods to farmers in the area, although he probably also saw a fair amount of business from students at nearby Wesleyan Academy.  Gurney was out of the building by 1913, and it was used as a post office and Masonic Lodge until it was demolished in 1957, and for many years afterward this was the site of the Louis & Clark drugstore.

Gurney’s Store, Wilbraham Mass (1)

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Frank A. Gurney’s Store, at the corner of Main Street and Springfield Street in Wilbraham, probably around 1900.  Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

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The location in 2015:

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I don’t know whether Frank Gurney used the building at the time that the first photo was taken, because it was used as a general store by several different men in the early 20th century.  However, it is most commonly associated with Gurney, whose carriage can be seen directly across the street from this building in the first photo of this post (note the watering trough, which is seen both in that post and here).  The tree next to the trough was apparently used as a sort of community bulletin board, which reveals the occupation that most Wilbraham residents were involved in – farming.  The bottom handbill advertises for Berkshire Fertilizers, above it is one that exclaims “WANTED FARMS!!”, and then above that is another ad for a fertilizer company.  As for the people in the first photo, I’m guessing that they were the store employees, but the man on the far right stands out.  All of the other men are wearing a bow tie and vest or jacket, and he is wearing overalls and a work shirt.  Perhaps the others were clerks, and he was the delivery man?

Like many small towns, the building had multiple uses; aside from being a general store, the post office was also located here, and the second floor was used as the Masonic Lodge.  The post office and the Masons were here until the building was demolished in 1957, and today the site is occupied by a commercial building that for many years housed the Louis & Clark drugstore.  The watering trough for horses is long gone, although its modern equivalent, a gas station, is directly across the street from here.

Springfield Street, Wilbraham Mass

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Looking west on Springfield Street from Main Street in Wilbraham, around 1903.  Courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

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Springfield Street in 2015:

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Here in New England, we just finished up a snowy winter, so the 1903 scene here is hardly an unfamiliar sight.  However, in many ways snowstorms like this one were actually less of an inconvenience than they are today.  Today, a major snowstorm means traffic is limited until the roads can be plowed, salted, and sanded, but in the days before automobiles deep snow just meant hitching up the horses to the sleigh instead of the wagon.  Given the poor condition of roads, particularly in New England, this would often be an improvement, since sleigh runners on snow offer a lot less friction than cart wheels on muddy, bumpy roads.

Interestingly, my great-great-great-grandmother lived on this road, a few houses down from the intersection on the left (not visible in these photos), and she died in 1895, less than 10 years before this photo was taken.  Since then, the road really hasn’t changed a whole lot – there are a few newer houses, a sidewalk, and a paved road, but otherwise it retains its small town, residential appearance over 110 years later.